#44: The Lazy Genius Bakes for the Holidays
00:01Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays to you, my friends.You are listening to the Lazy Genius podcast.I'm Kendra and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazyabout the things that don't.Today's episode is episode 44.The Lazy Genius Bakes for the Holidays.We're literally a week away from Christmas Day.So my guess is you've done some baking already.
00:24But today we're getting back to the heart of things.I will mention a few baking tips and have tons of practical resources.in the show notes, which you can see in this episode's info section in your podcast app or atthe lazygegeoncollective.com slash lazy slash holiday baking. But right now, I want to focus onwhy we bake at all and why if you haven't baked anything yet or if it hasn't been as fun as youhoped that that's okay. When I started gathering my thoughts for this episode, I of courseGoogled holiday baking tips just to see like the general conversation.Y'all, it was so intense.
01:02Everyone is making lists.They're buying all the eggs and cleaning out their pantriesand essentially coming at holiday baking like it's a science fair project.I could not find the soul.I couldn't find it.It was all recipes and tips like from professional chefs on the proper temperature of butter.Nothing about community or tradition or the reason we bake it all.If we are driven by our shopping lists and finding the perfect recipes,
01:30I'm afraid we're going to miss the moment we are so desperately trying to create with our holiday baking and with anything around the holidays.So can we just talk for a minute about the soul of baking, especially now?It is not the sexiest topic.I totally agree with that.But I think we lose something really beautiful when we distill it down to just the best gingerbread recipe.Okay, so can you guess what I'm going to ask you?So we get started.Anybody who's been listening for a while?
01:57Do you have any guesses?Why?Why do we do this?Why do we bake around the holidays in the first place?We always need to ask why.My gut answer is because everyone always has.It's just something you're supposed to do, right?I did some research actually into the history of the Christmas cookie, like tradition
02:15specifically.And what I learned, it reminded me of the deepest reason we share food.Sharing food is a way of sharing life.If you look back even to like medieval times, the practice of making and thethen sharing baked goods that were flavored with highly prized ingredients. It was a way of sharinglife together, feasting and celebrating in a way that really could not be done other times throughoutthe year. Time wouldn't allow it, money wouldn't allow it, resources wouldn't allow it. Now we can bakewhenever we want. And if we don't want to bake, we can buy whatever we want. We can buy from like a
02:53bakery. We can buy high quality treats from a bakery. We can buy Oreos at the store.So desserts don't provide the same function they once did.They aren't reserved for celebrations or baked with great care because ingredients are scarce.They just are.Desserts just are, which sometimes is wonderful.But for this conversation, let's kind of examine why that might not be so great.If we recognize that holiday baking began in order to share life and to celebrate by generous,baking with and sharing like prized ingredients and then given those things away, it puts it back
03:35into perspective, at least for me it does. So here's the thing. If you haven't baked anythingyet for Christmas and frankly don't really want to, you don't have to. You don't have to.Holiday baking is not something you have to do despite what the internet says. In fact, it's becomeso diluted in its original purpose that if you don't enjoy it or connect with the deeperreason behind it, you kind of have a leg up by getting to completely say no to a holidaytradition that's taking you away from traditions you actually want to make time for. So you don'thave to do it. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. But if holiday baking is somethingyou want to make time for, even in these last couple of weeks, let's have a fresh, renewed
04:20perspective. You have two things to consider, just two. The process and the product. Okay? Theprocess of baking, it really might be the only thing. You spend a morning with your family baking.It doesn't matter what. You gather with friends for a cookie swap. You reluctantly put aside yourtendency to hover and let your kids make a giant mess decorating cookies shaped like Christmas treesand candy canes. That one is for me. I have such a hard time letting them go crazy and make a messbecause I want it to be done slurably. But the process matters. That's the whole point, is the process.and sometimes we forget that.We get too focused on making it happen from a scheduling and planning perspective,
05:01and then we forget about the life and soul behind it.It's about so much more than starting with a clean kitchenand having a comprehensive shopping list so you don't forget a single itemor having the best decorative boxes to package up all your treats.Sadly, that's pretty much all the internet gives us recipes and plans.That's it.And then we forget the life and we forget the soul.We forget the process.
05:23So remember that just doing it is a celebration.And the second thing is the product.You might have some treats that you make just at Christmas time.They literally make no appearances otherwise.That matters too.Our family doesn't make buck eyes, those chocolate, the peanut butter balls that are dipped in chocolate.We don't make those any other time other than Christmas.And that means that they take like Christmas time.
05:51now honestly i i like to do baking alone like holiday baking by myself it's like therapy um the process ofsitting in a dimly lit kitchen with music playing and everybody's kind of in bed nobody's aroundthat actually gives me life it really really does um and so i just want you to know that likeeven though i like to bake with people and you might too i want to give you permission that yourprocess and your product they don't need to look like what you think they should look likeBut I do think that if neither of those two elements are essential, right, if the process isimprised and you're just making another cookie that you can make any other time, right?You don't put any sort of like special value on the actual product, then the holiday baking
06:36experience, it's going to fall flat and it's going to leave your soul feeling kind of wonky.Want to go electric without sacrificing fun?That's the Volkswagen ID4, all electric and thoughtfully designed to elevate yourmodern lifestyle. The Volkswagen ID4 is fun to drive with instant acceleration that makes city streetsfeel like open roads, plus a refined interior with innovative technology always at your fingertips.The all-electric ID4, you deserve more fun. Visit vw.ca.ca. to learn more. SUVW, German-engineered forall. Aw, isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life,whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art.
07:23I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast.Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder,and enhance the quality of public life.You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts.We can't help but go into situations with expectations.That's just the way it is, even if we try not to.And if you have holiday baking is another box to check.without giving any thought to the process or the product,
07:53you will be bummed and tired and then resentful of a huge plate of treatsthat you'll think will only make you fat, right? Isn't that what we do?Like we take out the soul from baking and then we just add in guilt.That is the worst recipe.You guys, oh my gosh, let's not do that place.So today it is December 18th.It's the Monday before Christmas.In the show notes, I have tons of practical holiday baking tips.
08:17I adore baking.I have a lot to say about it.So I will not leave you hanging.But here, this moment, this week before Christmas,I want to remind you of the soul behind your choices.Why are you celebrating the way you're celebrating?What is important to you about Christmas cookies?Do you give plates of treats away because you're supposed to?
08:40Because you always have?When you drop off the cookie plate at your neighbor's house,do you look them in the eye and ask a question?about them, about their lives, or do you just leave?I totally just left.But the point is connection.The point is sharing life through food with the people around you.That's why I love food so much.
09:03It's so ordinary, but it taps into one of the most soulful parts of us.Sharing food is sharing life.So let's move into our holiday baking this last week with that mindset.and hopefully the internet ways of prep and efficiency.And I hate this part, the impressing your neighbor part.Like, these will impress everyone.Nope, not into that, man.And all that will go out the window and it will leave you more settled in your soul.
09:34Because, yeah, I don't want to impress my neighbors.I don't want them to think that I'm so great.I want them to feel care for.Like wanting to make beautiful, tasty treats, it takes on a much different face.when our focus is caring for people rather than impressing them, when it's connecting with peoplerather than checking off a box.Now, if you are ready for tips and recipes and everything I've ever said about baking,you can go to the lazy genius collective.com slash lazy slash holiday baking.
10:07And I will have links to all the things.Favorite recipes, baking tips, a conversation I had with Jamie Golden from my favorite podcast,the pop cast about baking.We also talked about hot guys because of course we did.But there are some really great tips in that episode as well as in all the posts that I am sharing with you.But today is soul time.Today we need to think about the soul.Don't forget about the soul of holiday baking.
10:34It is way more important than having fancy cookie cutters.So remember, if you do want to bake this last week, think about the process.Is it important?What's it about?how does it fill your soul and the people around you think about the product is what you're makingdoes it carry something special because you only make it at christmas time or is it just another thingthat you're doing let's not just do things just because without thinking is everything that you say yesto without thinking about it you have to say no to something else and that something else might be
11:11quiet. It might be sleep. It might be reading a book on your couch. And those things sound reallygreat right now, don't they? Because Christmas is crazy. Like even if you do all the rightthings, even if you plan and you are intentional, like it still can feel overwhelming. So I mentionedthis a lot last week and last week's episode about self-care that a lot of things that are regularand ordinary that do give us life, we don't get to do because of just the natural busyness,even just a couple of extra things.It makes a big difference in taking us away from the things that matter.So let's not make holiday baking something that is steeped in guilt or shoulds.
11:50Put the soul back into it or just don't do it.And that's okay too.Okay.I mentioned cookie cutters a second ago.Speaking of those, the lazy genius tip of the week is about cookies.It's to freeze your cookie dough.If you're using cookie cutter like shaped cookies, like sugar cookies decorating them,freeze them before you bake them.
12:12So roll out your dough, cut your shapes, and then put those shapes on the sheet tray that you'regoing to put the oven, go ahead and put it in the freezer first.Because if you are making cut out cookies and you want them to keep their shape,putting them in the freezer for even just 15 minutes before you bake them, it helps themhold their shape a lot better because the butter as it freezes, it gets hard, obviously, right?And so when it goes into the oven, it has to work harder to spread out because it'sfrozen. It has further to go, which means that your shape doesn't lose its shape. It doesn't sort of likeget lazy and start to spread really quickly. So what's great to is you'll get into a rhythm of like
12:52one sheet in the oven, one sheet in the freezer, and one being cut out. It's a really lovely littlecookie rhythm that leads to not spreading your cookies. So pop those things in the freezer for 15minutes before you bake them and you will see a difference in the shape of your Christmas cookies.So I want to let you know before we go that I am taking next week off since it's ChristmasDay.I'm sure you understand that.But I will be back with an episode on New Year's Day because January 1st, man, that justfeels like an exciting thing to be able to talk to each other on January 1st.
13:23I'm really excited about 2018 and spending it with you here.And I sincerely hope that the rest of this year these next couple of weeks is a real giftto you.So blessings to you and yours, my friends.And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.I'll see you next year.I really should not abuse that job.It is overused.
13:47I still have to say it.It's fine.See you guys next year.Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life?It's so dangerous to live that more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life becausewhen you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it.You think it's good enough.Is it?
14:28I'm Susie Welch.I host a podcast calledBecoming You. People think, okay, an A-plus life is not available to me, but there is a way.We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.
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